


One Grey Day

by Biweatherman



Category: Groundhog Day - Minchin/Rubin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluffy Ending, Light Angst, Soulmates, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 14:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12344619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biweatherman/pseuds/Biweatherman
Summary: Maybe things would have been different if they'd just touched when they first met. As it was it took Phil months in the loop to discover exactly who Rita Hanson was.





	One Grey Day

**Author's Note:**

> Graphic description of violence warning only there because of a brief suicide mention

Maybe things would have been different if they’d just touched all those days ago, or that morning depending on how you looked at time, Phil lamented after another failed date. As it was Phil hadn’t taken the hand she had offered, though it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference as they were both wearing gloves, however they might have accidentally touched Phil reasoned.

As it was Phil had ignored the handshake and hadn’t realised exactly who Rita Hanson was until he’d been stuck in this hellhole for maybe months, it could've been years, he’d stopped trying to keep track of time ages ago. Every other time they’d touched, when she’d slapped him early on in the loop for example, she’d been wearing gloves and it was only chance that they actually touched that day. 

He’d been lounging in the diner when Rita had stormed in, infuriated that he had missed another broadcast, not that it would ever matter. He’d offered her a sticky bun to try and appease and as he shoved the pastry into her hands his fingers had brushed hers, her hands gloveless for once in the overly warm diner. The world that had been black and white and dull for all forty years of his life exploded into colour as soon as they had connected, the pastry along with the mug he’d been holding fell and shattered, spilling barely drinkable coffee on the ground. 

Phil looked at the brown stain forming on the floor of the diner trying to get his breathing under control, because he could actually see the colour brown, actually see it pooling on the white tile. And seriously, why had they been calling it black coffee the colour was clearly brown, dark maybe but with amber tinges shining through as it caught the light. Slowly he looked up, this time more prepared for the onslaught to his senses that was the many different colours in the diner. There was the bright pink of Doris’ uniform, which he could see as she hurried towards him to deal with the spillage and the bright, copper-red of Debbie's hair, brought to his attention by her excitement as she realised what had just happened between Phil and Rita. He looked back at Rita, who was staring directly at him and was so taken aback by the deep brown of her eyes it took him a while to realise that those brilliant brown eyes were filled with panic, and shock and just a bit of anger.

Any happiness he had at seeing the world how it should be viewed and realising he had a soulmate, that he wasn’t broken, that there was someone who could, who would, who should love him disappeared at the realisation she was feeling none of the same elation he was. 

“Aren't you lucky. Guess this means I'm your-” Phil started, wanting to say anything that would break the silence or change the expression on her face and slipping easily into his overly-confident persona in an attempt to hide the nervousness that had taken hold in his throat and was crawling up into his throat. 

“No, no, no. No. This doesn’t mean anything, Phil. At all. This doesn’t mean weddings and families and years of trying to make it work because the universe told us to. So don’t even say it does, I barely know you and from what I’ve heard you’re an asshole, so I’m sorry but you don’t get to whisk me away into the sunset.” She said, running out of the diner and leaving Phil alone, the different coloured eyes of all the people in the diner staring at him as dark brown liquid began to seep into the tip of his shoe. 

The worst thing had been waking up the next day, everything in black and white once more. It was just cruel, the entire afternoon had been bad enough but to then take away the only good bit of it, the experience of colour, seemed unnecessarily mean. However it just made it clear to him what he had to do, he had to get Rita to realise they were meant to be and then the universe would be righted and he would be free. 

From that day on he stopped sleeping with random women, pretending that he didn’t care about the possibility of a soulmate and had been going on dates with Rita instead, taking the time to learn how to be the man he was meant to be, dreaming of a time he would experience colour again, learning early on that if Rita even suspected the universe wanted them to be together she would do everything in her power to rebel. She wasn’t the only person Phil knew who resented the idea of soulmates, the idea there was only one person for everyone and that you had to love them no matter what. He’d never minded them even though he’d always rejoiced at the idea of soulmates, loving the idea that there was someone who cared for him out there, though this belief had been harder to cling to as the years went on and it seemed there would be no one for him, yet even then he had hope. However, while he’d never cared about those people who rejected the idea before it hurt that the person who was meant to care for him refused to. 

So he kept trying, learning more and more about what her soulmate should be like, trying to become him. Which brought him to now, returning alone to the same old bed and breakfast, falling into bed and dreaming in colour. 

He was getting closer, but the closer he got the less hope he had it would work out. He’d gone through all the motions and it had been perfect, they’d been sitting next to each other as the clock chimed and the snow fell. He’d become who her soulmate should be: polite, spontaneous, romantic, and had decided it was time to tell her the truth, that they were meant to be. And even after all of that she’d rejected him, outright. Slapped him and pushed him away, told him to grow up, like he hadn’t been trying to grow as a person to be who she wanted him to be the entire time. 

And then the dates got worse again, as they felt stiff and unnatural. He knew he had to stop, that this was an impossible goal. A soulmate was meant to love you unconditionally, was meant to accept your flaws and your cracks. But Rita hadn’t so he’d accepted that maybe some people were so broken they had to change for their soulmate so he had, he’d become who he was meant to be and it hadn’t been enough, he could never be enough. 

It was time to get out. There was nothing more for him here, no family, no excitement, no friends, no light, no love, no colour. Just the same grey day and a soulmate who made it perfectly clear that he was such a broken man, such a humongous jerk of a human being that even she, the person who was meant to look past his flaws and meant to see the real him, hated him. There was nothing left for him but to leave. 

The day started out the same as any other, dark and grey as he threw the radio across the room, shutting up those obnoxious presenters. As he stormed out the bed and breakfast he passed the useless sheriff, grabbing his gun as it fell. He went through the broadcast, paying no attention to Rita and Larry's shocked looks before saying goodbye to Rita, she was his soulmate after all, he owed her that much. What he hadn’t meant to do was touch Rita as he moved on, which meant that she saw the vivid scarlet of the blood as he pulled the trigger before her world faded once more into greys and blacks. 

Even after all of that he continued to wake up every day in that bed and breakfast and be greeted with dull greyness. He was sat in the diner when Rita found him again. He often went there, using what memory he had of the day he’d realised the truth about Rita to paint the room in colour. It was bittersweet, there was the fact he could savour the little time he’d had seeing the world in colour but also the knowledge that would likely never happen again and that a memory from a day that overall had been a disaster was all he had to cling onto. 

Rita immediately realised something was wrong and something compelled Phil to talk to her. He wasn’t really sure why, maybe it was because he felt she deserved some sort of explanation as his soulmate, or because whatever he said didn’t matter anyway in the long run so why not. 

As she talked her way through his problem, describing what she’d do in this position he was hit with a mixture of shame which wasn’t new and an emotion that was completely new. He was starting to fall in love with Rita, actually fall in love with her, someone so kind and generous and excitable and witty, not just this abstract idea of a soulmate. He stopped seeing her as a person only in relation to him, as someone who would save him and make him whole and saw her as an actual human being. 

The twin emotions of shame and newfound love and admiration was his motivation for starting to help others and over the next months he spent his entire time trying to help others and be a better person, the thought of Rita as his soulmate mostly being pushed out of his mind. 

Hearing Rita call out the contents of her wallet had been a surprise, but a pleasant one. However he proceeded with caution, not wanting to make her uncomfortable in the slightest and tried not to get his hopes up that maybe his soulmate would accept him, this wasn’t about him anymore. He took her to the observation deck to show her the sights, which he knew like the back of his hand at this point. He was in the middle of talking when she pulled him towards her capturing his lips with hers and time stopped. 

Phil slowly broke the kiss and as he opened his eyes was slightly surprised by the colour that greeted him, completely forgetting for a second that them touching would cause the change. As Rita moved away he immediately took a few steps back, trying to give her time and space to process and panic, as happy as he was to be able to see colour again and as eager as he was to drink in the sights from the observation deck, this moment was not about him. This was about Rita and if Rita wanted to not see him for the rest of the day then so be it, he would leave and do everything in his power to ensure that this didn’t happen in any subsequent days. 

“Wow, that was…”

“Entirely unexpected” Phil replied, which he guessed was partly the truth. He had had no idea that Rita would kiss him. The expression on her face was also unexpected, her voice had caused him to slowly turn away from the view and face her and instead of seeing the panic and anger he expected he instead saw a soft sense of wonderment and surprise. 

“So we’re…”

“Yes, and I understand if you don’t want to leap into a relationship, we do barely know each other.”

“We did the flood story together”

“Yes, yes we did.” Phil said, hoping this conversation was going where he thought it was, but still hesitant to push anything. 

“I prefer this though” Rita said, tentatively walking closer to Phil and pulling him gently by the lapels of his jacket into a kiss. 

Phil woke up and immediately was hit with a sense of wrongness. Firstly everything was silent, no obnoxious alarm or telephone call, secondly he could see in colour and truly appreciate the drabness of the room. Rita walking into the room firmly cemented his belief something was wrong, and his hope that time was right again. 

“You’re, you’re still here” Phil said with what was probably a stupid grin on his face, not that he cared. 

“Well, I considered sneaking out but it seemed like a dick move. Thank you for the boots by the way”

“Least I could do for my soulmate” 

“Right, about that..” Rita replied, not really looking at him. 

“I meant what I said last night” Oh and how good it was to reference something from yesterday and have people understand “I don’t want to force you into anything, we do whatever you're comfortable with” 

Before Rita could respond the sound of a van being honked made them jump. 

“Larrys here! He’s never here!” He leaned out the window to talk to him and maybe he shouldn’t have told Larry he was with Rita but he was just so damn happy and by the way she playfully tossed her boot at him indicated she didn’t mind that much. 

“Larry said the roads are clear, we can go, we can just leave” Phil said hardly able to believe what he was saying. 

“Can we, can we stay and just take in the town?” Rita asked and while normally Phil would’ve jumped at the chance of leaving he decided that seeing the town in colour for a whole day with Rita, who seemed to want to at least give the soulmate thing a chance if the invitation to spend a day with her was anything to go by, didn’t seem so bad.  
The fact he had an entire day with colour suddenly hit him, as did the lack of snow and he suddenly badgered Rita to hurry up as he pulled his coat and shoes on before rushing outside with her at his tail before seeing what he’d been wanting to see for his entire life. 

The sun. And boy was it marvellous, shining and glorious, the warmth hitting his face as he took in bright yellow-white of the sun as it slowly rose from behind the horizon, painting the scenery in an orange glow and the clouds in such deep oranges and reds it was like the sky was on fire. It was absolutely breathtaking and an experience he thought would be the best thing in the world was made even better as he slowly sat down on the bench, Rita sitting next to him and leaning towards him as he slung one arm around her, around his soulmate and for the first time in years felt truly happy and at peace.


End file.
